So we finally got to the beach and unloaded everything...then got to go to the beach!! We went out, flashlights in hand, ready to hunt whatever may be out there...crabs, sand fleas, clams, whatever came our way. It was gorgeous and the sound is just one of the best in the world. We walked down the beach and I of course would let out a squeal every time a crab unexpectedly ran anywhere near me and I didn't see it ahead of time. We came back inside to relax and to my,dismay, I realized I should have definitely put on bug spray. Now, some of you may know this, some of you may not, but my blood has a magical ingredient that, for whatever reason, attracts any and all bugs that bite. Now you may be laughing being like aw, she gets a few bites here and there. No. Anytime I am outside for any length of time, I WILL get bitten. Fact. Anyways I got 7 bug bites just that night. Yep. The rest of the trip i was fully prepared with my bug spray in hand at all times.
We woke up the next morning, ate breakfast, and then headed to the beach!! When I have been at the beach before it usually consists of me laying out for a little while, maybe reading a book or talking with Mom, but then we head in and maybe go out a little later but usually my family heads out to check out the town, fine a cool place to eat, do some shopping, etc. However, going in the water is something I usually just don't really do. I may get my feet wet, or cool off quickly, etc. This beach trip, I believe I spent more time in the water than a combined total of every beach trip I have ever taken...and I loved it! We had rafts and stuff out there that we just hung out in, fighting off the waves and creating games that to anyone else watching I'm sure looked incredibly dorky but to us, we were having a blast. We came up and Doug and Chelsie started building a sand sculpture. Now, you may be imagining some little house that you turn a bucket over and wah-lah, there is your sculpture, but may I remind you that my father-in-law is an architect, and his daughter is following extremely close behind with the creative...ness. SO they set out and ended up building a HUGE alligator that had only his head, back, and tail sticking out of the water. It was incredible! They just saw it in their mind and went for it. I, on the other hand, sat off to the side with Sherry and watched as they built this masterpiece right in front of our eyes. I did contribute and made 2 scale/fin things on the back. They were great ha.
That night I got to make dinner for everyone!! Chad talks about my enchiladas so much that they wanted me to make them one of the nights at the beach. We doubled the recipe and started to it with only a few bumps in the road (an incredibly annoying cheese grater being one of them) but they were finished and turned out great!
That night we watched the All-Star game (baseball) and hung out and then headed to bed! Chad got pretty burned as did I, but along with my burn I also had the wonderful reaction to whatever it is that usually happens to me. Yep, one more thing to add to the weird list of me haha. I had red bumps all over my stomach, chest, and back. It went away by the next day though and we went back to the beach fine! We were getting more and more burned (no lectures...please :) ) so we would put T-shirts on whenever we couldn't stand it anymore. It was just so much fun hanging out with everyone. His family is so much fun and just very inviting and great overall people. I am so thankful that I get to be a part of them!
Thursday night we went out to eat at The Original Oyster House. This place was PACKED and we got our beeper and were prepared to wait. There were several stores around though that kept us occupied for a little while. We were all lookin nice and took some pictures though ...
Dinner was great! My shrimp scampi I got was phenomenal and you gotta have the hushpuppies to top everything off. Afterwards we went to one of the tourist shops. It was called Surf Style but let me just say these were EVERYWHERE. From standing in the street you were able to see 4 different stores, all within a mile of each other. It was crazy! We picked one and went in. Got the t-shirts that you always have to get and roamed around. After that we headed to the famous "Scoops" ice cream place that was hoppin! There were tons of people there and this has been a long standing tradition in the Burris family come to find out. I got mint chocolate chip in a shake ... my favorite!
See how much fun we're having?? haha.
Friday was our last day :( but it was also the day we were doing the white shirts and khaki pants picture! I was really looking forward to this! We drove to a place where the dunes were perfect and the sky was perfect and it was just perfect! haha.
Aren't they so cute :) So Friday night we played some catch phrase and then finished the rest of Titanic (another Burris beach tradition!). Saturday was our pack up and go home day. SO depressing. We headed out, said our goodbyes (ugh!) and then Chad and I headed back to the wonderful Surf Style to get another coffee mug (because someone forgot it was in the bag and threw the bag down on the tile floor haha) and we also looked at a few more of those sneaky tourist t-shirts (buy one get one free! buy one get this special souvenir bag! etc etc). We ended up going to 3 because the t-shirt Chad wanted wasn't at the first or second one, so we got quite familiar with the lovely store. We finally headed out in the crazy bumper to bumper traffic of EVERYONE leaving all at once. This went on for quite a while but finally cleared up and we were headed home for the 4 hour trip ...so we thought. We got to Montgomery, AL and up ahead as far as you could see was traffic....and not just the slow moving kind, the might as well pull out a deck of cards or get out and stretch your legs we'll be here forever kind. So Chad swiftly pulled off the interstate and thanks to our wonderful GPS ("jeeps" as I call it) headed down an old country road behind a few other cars doing the same. We went about 10 miles down the road and it crossed over 65 to get back on...and we just drove over it in shock to see that it was STILL the same traffic not moving 10 miles further down. At this point we were ... I was ... starting to get a little nervous. Chad had to work that night you see, and depending on how many back roads good ol jeeps could find us, we may be a while. At this point we pulled over, pulled out the atlas, and pulled out our cell phone and called my dad (where would we be without all this technology?? ... probably still stuck in Montgomery). We decided to head towards Auburn and cut across on a road that way. We started out and there was traffic going the same way because apparently everyone else had caught on to that idea as well. SO I pulled out the Atlas again and figured it would take us less time to go the opposite (and less crowded looking) way towards Tuscaloosa and cut up on a bunch of roads that way. Let me just take a moment to say and brag a little on myself that I cannot believe I was reading an atlas and actually navigating pretty darn well. Incredible. Anyways so we headed that way, bunch of country roads, the 'scenic route' if you will. It was fun though because we were laughing and talking the whole way. We maneuvered our way all the way back to 65 at a familiar exit (where we went fishing for 4th of July!) and were completely relieved to see NO TRAFFIC!! We did see many beach-going vans and cars driving though. Wonder how long they sat ... So the 4, 4/12 hour trip turned into a 9 1/2 hour trip (yes, that says 9 1/2, not a typo). Needless to say Chad had to call work and say he didn't think he was going to make it back.
(^thats me incredibly frustrated with the atlas. see.)
On the way back we did stop at a restaurant called Country Cafe and it was one of those places you normally just look at and go "Wow I wonder how they stay in business". We walked in and the people looked like they hadn't seen real customers in ages. We seated and stared at and it was hilarious. The only other customers in there were apparently the daughters or nieces of someone who worked there; they sat down and weren't given menus and just orderd "the usual" kind of thing haha. We split a hamburger steak with mashed potatoes, rolls, drinks, salad, and chocolate pudding. It was actually pretty good I must say. Way to go Country Cafe.
Here's some random pictures from the week!!
Chad made daiquiris for everyone one night - no no, don't worry everyone, they were virgin ha
The girls newly manicured ORANGE toes!
The alligator we made in the sand! You can see his back and tail behind him too.
This is the tent we had set up all week. Came in handy definitely!
Spooky house Chad got an AWESOME picture of!
Our farmers market! Didn't you know?
Sisters!
The famous picture that will be continued EVERY beach trip from now on!
Our condo we stayed in.
**PS. I added the pictures of our Atlanta trip below in a slideshow thing!! check them out!**
2 comments:
great post! Glad you had fun at the beach! We took beach pics similar to that we my family went two years ago. Except mom doesn't like the white shirt with kaki shorts...so we had to blue and peach colored tops. haha. oh, mom.
Very fun post to read! Great writing and great pictures!
I love those chicken enchiladas too. :)
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